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Peru seeks more Arab travellers

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One of Peru’s natural wonder, the Machu<br>Picchu; (below) Silva-Santisteban

PROMPERU, the Trade, Tourism and Investment Office of Peru, is looking to establish the country as a touristic destination for the Arab travellers. Currently Peru is ranked among the world's ten most preferred destinations according to Ernst & Young, and Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism has said that they expect a nine to ten per cent increase in visitor arrivals in 2013.

Alvaro Silva-Santisteban, the director of PromPeru’s UAE office in Dubai, participated at the recently concluded Arabian Travel Market in Dubai to help achieve this target.

“We were evaluating participating for the show last year and the year before. But we wanted to first know what the market was, what we could bring for the market what our advantage was over our competitors. Once we had that in mind, we launched the communication for tourism companies in Peru to join us and explore this market. It was sold out in a week, which solidifies the interest level,” said Silva-Santisteban.

“The show met all our objectives. First and most importantly being to validate the thoughts we had on this market. It has been validated in extremes; second was to identify where it is that we can play a key role and be able to prepare tailor-made packages for the Arab tourists in terms of their needs and likes; then to establish commercial agreements, to get people to get interested to travel to Peru and to educate the consumer/traveller of our culture,” he added.

Looking ahead Silva-Santisteban stresses that connectivity is a priority and have been in discussions with regional airlines since they first arrived in the region three years ago. “The is key not just for tourism but we believe that it is a 360 degree agreement as it will generate more exports, more investment possibilities as well as more tourism,” he added.

Peru is one of the ten ‘mega diverse’ countries in the world, meaning it is extremely bio diverse and boasts an abundance of flora and fauna. Peru's geography also nurtures a sense of adventure, varying from the hot and arid plains of the Pacific coast to the imposing peaks of the Andes Mountain range, and the lush tropical forests of the Amazon Basin and hiking trails are a popular holiday activity. For those looking for something more extreme, there's climbing in the mountains, sand boarding in the coastal dunes, canoeing in the rivers, or trekking along the Inca trail, or surfing on one of nature's miracles in Chicama. It is the world's longest wave stretching over four km.

“Consumers know Peru yet don’t know Peru. They know the name because we are home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but that’s it. Peru is a country that has coastlines, mountains and lush Amazon jungles. Travellers can learn and experience how the natives live; or stay in a boutique hotel in the middle of the jungle to experience the sounds and lights – the offering is very varied,” he continued.

Numbers from the GCC still remain small with only 1,000 arrivals from each country, of which 60-70 per cent are business travellers.

“However what is interesting from this figure is that these business travellers do come back, and with their families. It truly is a country with many destinations and something for everyone,' he added.

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